The Day of Boe
by MayaH7
Summary: It is not Valentine's Day, but the Doctor and Rose celebrate anyway.


It had been months since Rose had parted from the Doctor at Bad Wolf Bay. She thought about it often, usually at night, sleeping next to _her Doctor_; the half human who had her, and she had him... With him snoring by her side, she felt somewhat complete. But sometimes as she lay there, in the moments before falling asleep, she thought of the Doctor who didn't have her. Somewhere out there, the Doctor was traveling the world, always lonely. Even when he had someone with him, he knew that one day they would leave, and he would be all alone again.

Rose preferred to keep this thought away during the day. She had the Doctor. The Doctor had her. They had a life together. That's what mattered now, wasn't it?

Much had changed since their first kiss at Bad Wolf Bay. The Doctor now had a whole identity on Earth, something he'd never had before. No psychic paper to cheat at life this time. They were both real people now. Legal people. Well, as legal as it got when you were the Doctor and Rose.

It was not Valentine's Day. It was a completely regular Wednesday. Rose could never decide about Wednesdays. They were exactly in the middle. The weekend was creeping near, but it was still far away. Wednesdays were never special. Just a milestone in the middle of the week. A day when you think, _I made it this far_.

It was a regular old Wednesday, and it was definitely not Valentine's Day. So why, when she came into her office (yes, there was office work to do in Torchwood, too), were there rose petals scattered all over her desk? There was nothing to tell her that it had been him, but who else could it be?

It was not Valentine's Day, but then why did she get a delivery of Pad Tai from her favourite restaurant at exactly lunchtime?

It was a perfectly normal Wednesday. But the Doctor hadn't made an appearance at Torchwood all day (not that he normally did, even though, officially, he did work there), and an hour after her Pad Tai, she was delivered a box of chocolates and a small bouquet of roses. Roses and rose petals were less of a romantic thing and more of an inner joke for them. The Doctor had never given her any other kind of flower, because "that would be a waste of your name, Rose Tyler."

When she came home from work, the Doctor was sitting at the living room couch, wearing a very formal looking suit and fiddling with his new sonic screwdriver.

When he heard her entering, he looked up, an enormous grin on his face. A Doctor smile, she called it. She'd never met anyone who could smile like that. It was a smile that stretched from one side of his face to the other, in an honest gesture of pure, unmasked excitement.

"It's Valentine's Day," he said, his voice sounding like his smile, big and excited.

"No, it's not, Doctor. It's January."

"Not _Earth_ Valentine's Day," he said. "It's Intergalactic Valentine's Day! A day to celebrate love between every species in the galaxy, except for the odd Dalek. Of course, the intergalactic love holiday is different from the silly Earth one. It's named after the face of B- OH! Wow. I did not think of that. I can't believe I did not think of that. It's named after the face of Boe. Rose, the intergalactic love holiday is named after the face of Boe!"

"The Intergalactic Valentine's day is named after _Jack_?" The Doctor had told Rose all about Jack being the face of Boe. At first she'd found it hard to believe. There were some technical inconveniences. For example, the fact that he became a giant head in a tank. But it was the Doctor, and it was Jack, so she hadn't been too surprised.

"Actually, it's called the Intergalactic Day of Boe."

Now that she thought of it, it wasn't that surprising that the intergalactic holiday celebrating love was named after Captain Jack Harkness. In fact, it made a lot of sense. She wondered how that had come to be.

"Anyway, Rose Tyler, you have five minutes to change and do whatever it is girls do before going out."

Rose didn't argue, and somehow managed to pull on a pink evening gown and apply a bit of makeup in about six minutes.

It was the Intergalactic Day of Boe. But the Doctor hadn't hired a limo or ordered places at a fancy restaurant. They took the old blue truck he'd convinced her to buy. The Doctor was far from a good driver, but he wouldn't let Rose drive in his place, claiming it would spoil the surprise.

An hour later, they rattled to a stop in a place Rose had never seen before. It reminded her a bit of where they'd sat long ago, when the Doctor was an alien and they had a time traveling box, watching New New New New... however many times she was to say that, New York. She was surrounded by grass on all sides, with nobody in sight. In the distance, she could see the twinkling lights of London. A soft breeze blew her hair back.

"Doctor, why are we here in these clothes?" she asked.

"It's an important occasion," said the Doctor with a grin.

He took her hand, sending shivers up her arm, and pulled her toward a large, lone tree in the middle of the field.

_Of course_, she thought as soon as she saw it. _It couldn't have been anything else._

Laying beneath the tree was the TARDIS coral. The Doctor had built a kind of little nest around it, and although it was a completely inanimate object, it looked, to Rose, a bit like a sleeping baby.

"Of course, I'm going to have to move it more into the open once it starts growing into an actual TARDIS," said the Doctor. "But by then it should be able to disguise itself on a basic level, so that shouldn't be a problem."

"How long will it take? Until we have a full grown TARDIS, that is?"

"No idea."

She didn't know why it was funny, but suddenly they were both laughing hysterically.

"We're growing a TARDIS!" she cried. "I can't believe it! We're growing a TARDIS!"

The Doctor pulled her to him, smiling broadly. "We haven't reached the highlight of the evening," he said, his face suddenly inches from hers.

"And what's that?"

The Doctor let go, returning to the truck. Soon he had out a large folded tent and two stuffed duffel bags. Rose laughed in surprise. "How'd you fit all that in the back?"

"It's bigger on the inside."

As they built the tent, still in their formal wear, the Doctor explained his plans for the night.

"I thought we should dress formally, because it's an important day. A TARDIS needs to be respected, don't you think? And I brought that new iPod thingamajig, and speakers, and I think I know how to make them work. Remember that time we danced? Did you know I can still dance? I'm not bad, either. These legs were made for it, I'm telling you. And I figured we wouldn't have to stay in these clothes for long, you know... But I did pack you some clothes."

There was some dancing, followed by a lot of kissing. There was a messy return to the tent in an attempt not to let go of each other. There was the bonfire's gentle crackling outside the tent, as if it had a suspicion of what was going on inside. Later they sat, roasting marshmallows at the same bonfire, Rose in the mismatched clothes the Doctor had packed for her, thinking Jack would probably be very proud of them.


End file.
